Los Angeles, Feb 9 (IANS) Thirty-eight male executives have issued a letter to The Recording Academy president Neil Portnow to end gender disparity.
This comes after two separate letters were sent from female music industry executives criticising the lack of female representation at the Grammy Awards, last week.
While this one does not call for The Recording Academy president Portnow to step down as the first letter from female executives did, it read that “structural flaws in the make-up of The Recording Academy itself have led to systemic issues in the selection of nominees and winners for the awards”, reports variety.com.
It further read: “Now is the time for NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, also called The Recording Academy) to lead and be transparent and dedicated to transforming its member base to truly mirror the rich gender and cultural diversity of our community. It should reveal the diversity (and/or the lack thereof) of its voting members and make necessary changes to the population of the Academy to better reflect the diverse music business voices the organisation is meant to serve.”
Paradigm Talent Agency’s founder Tom Windish, who helped to spearhead the letter, told the publication that he did not intentionally exclude label and publishing executives, but did focus on his circle of friends, acquaintances and colleagues in the business. Thus, the signatories are primarily agents, managers and attorneys (as well as songwriter Justin Tranter).
Last week, Portnow announced the formation of a task force focusing on “female advancement” in the Academy and the industry, although further details have not been revealed.
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